


Something Real

by rebbie



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombies, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3479021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebbie/pseuds/rebbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth meets Daryl at a party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Real

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I don't even know what this is..  
> This is my first ever fic attempt and I'm pretty nervous/not confident in it but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone.  
> Very loosely inspired by 'Married' by Emily Kinney (which is amazing, if you don't listen to her music.. what are you even doing).  
> Let me know what you think, I have zero capacity to judge my own writing. Be gentle.  
> I'm rebediah on tumblr if you care to stalk me.  
> Here goes.

If Beth was being honest with herself, she was having a hard time.

She was having a hard time with school. She was having a hard time living with her sister. And she was having a hard time paying attention to the guy beside her, desperately spouting off athletic jargon in an attempt to impress her at this party. A party in her own apartment. A party she wanted nothing to do with. Beth did all she could to keep a polite expression on her face while she tried to imagine how she had gotten here.

Her classes were going just fine – she was plenty smart and already had experience working at her daddy’s animal clinic a few summers back. Beth was simply losing her focus. It had only been a few months, and more often than not Beth opted to strum on her guitar and scribble lyrics in her old journal instead of reading her textbooks or writing notes.  

Maggie’s apartment was nice, but Beth had always felt like a guest. She loved Maggie, she did.. but Beth felt trapped. After her mother and brother Shawn passed away in a car accident, it had been hard but they had been there for each other. Maggie was already set to move to Atlanta for law school at that point, but Beth still had to finish high school. When her daddy’s drinking eventually got worse and Maggie’s visits stopped, Beth gave up on the idea of having a life outside of the farm. When she got accepted to the veterinary medicine program at the University of Georgia, which she had only applied to on a whim, she begged her daddy to let her go. Hershel hadn’t had a drink in over a year, and his main farmhand Otis and his wife Patricia offered to move in and help out permanently if Beth went away to school. Hershel agreed, under the condition that Beth move in with Maggie and that they both come home for holidays and some weekends. Maggie accepted the offer and had quickly become overbearing in her protectiveness, which Beth knew was out of love, but quite frankly she was about to snap.

“So yeah, I mean, I’m technically second string, but my coach said that if I keep up the pace I’m at now, I’ll probably be starting lineup by the fall..” Beth didn’t care much for sports on a good day, but right now she didn’t think she could handle this conversation for much longer.

“I hate football.” She forced a small smile. He was cute, she admitted, but in a he-knows-it kind of way. She even felt somewhat guilty when she saw the realization in his eyes; that this was going nowhere. That she was going nowhere. Not with him, not tonight.

“I’m gonna grab a beer.” He didn’t seem too deflated. Beth was sure he wouldn’t be alone for long, and if she ignored how awkward the situation had been, she felt relieved to be alone again. She took another small sip of the wine she’d been nursing for hours now, and grabbed a small handful of jelly beans from the bowl on the coffee table. She didn’t even like them – they were the crappy generic kind that are cheaper than the good brands, that look the same until you taste them. She just needed something to do with her hands.

A sudden dip in the couch startled Beth and she is somewhat glad to see that it’s Maggie who has plopped down beside her, cheeks flushed and a giggle escaping her lips as she attempts to regain her balance.

“Were you talkin’ to Matt? He’s cute, huh? Y’all should definitely go out. I can talk to him for you if you want.” Typical of Maggie. To decide what Beth should want, and to assume that she couldn’t get it herself.

Beth gently smiles but shakes her head. “That’s okay, I’m not sure he’s really my type. Too short I think.”

Maggie gets a look in her eye and Beth knows it’s time to cut her off. “Well you know what they say, it don’t matter when you’re layin’ down. I’m taller than Glenn anyhow and we manage just fine!” Maggie erupts in laughter and leans her head on Beth’s shoulder.

Beth blushes slightly and looks over at Glenn, who smiles hesitantly as if he knows he’s the subject of conversation. Beth smiles back as she watches Maggie get up and stagger over to him, throwing her arms around his shoulders in a sloppy embrace. Beth likes Glenn a lot, and knows that he and Maggie are great together. Maggie has always had boyfriends, but Glenn seems different, more special.

Is that what her life was missing? She’s never had a serious boyfriend, and she’s technically still a virgin, but that never really bothers her. It isn’t that she hasn’t had the opportunity. There had been Zach who she’d met in the first few weeks of school, and they had started talking at an orientation party and then later in his dorm. He was nice, if a little too forward. They had kissed for a while and it had felt good, his hands fumbling around a little more eagerly than hers. She had excused herself to go to the bathroom, and found him passed out upon her return. Beth wasn’t upset, and had stayed friends with Zach after telling him she wasn’t looking for something more. Beth liked the idea of having a boyfriend, someone to talk to and spend time with who really understands you, but whenever she tried to meet someone new, it felt forced and fake. She hated it.

Looking away from Glenn and Maggie, Beth was surprised to find that someone else had sat down on the couch without her even noticing. He sat at the other side, leaving a space between them, and he stood out like a sore thumb at a party full of grinning, red-faced college kids. He looked older. Too old to be one of Maggie’s friends from school. He was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows and dark jeans that had a large hole on either knee. He had brown hair that nearly touched his shoulders, with a few strands falling in front of his eyes. She couldn’t help but notice how broad his shoulders were or the way his shirt fit tightly around his arms. Slightly embarrassed and not wanting to be caught staring, Beth quickly looked away and took another sip of her wine.

Sighing deeply, the stranger leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his half-empty beer dangling from one hand.

“Those any good?” It took Beth a moment to realize she was being spoken to. His voice was gruff but with a gentleness to it.

“Uh, sorry?” Beth turned to face him, caught off guard, and realized that he was pointing to the bowl of jelly beans with his beer. “Oh! Um, no, actually, they are pretty gross to be honest.” Beth laughed nervously, trying to get ahold of herself.

He nodded, but stretched his arm out nonetheless and took a small handful. The jelly beans looked tiny in his large hands, and he looked at them for a moment before tossing them into his mouth all at once.  

“They’re just the cheap kind, you know? Not like a brand, but the less expensive ones at the store. Maggie buys ‘em.. I don’t think she can tell the difference.” He was nodding along slowly as she spoke.

"Well you ain't lyin'." He looked over at her, a barely noticeable smirk tugging at his lips as he swallowed. “Taste like shit. Looked just like some I had one time as a kid, though.”

Beth smiled and was reminded of herself growing up. “I loved candy when I was little. My daddy used to have to hide it all because I would eat too much and run around like a wild child until I was practically sick.” She was rambling now, and had a newfound empathy for Matt when she realized that this stranger probably didn’t care about her childhood memories.

“You Maggie’s little sister?”

“Beth.” She nods and smiles sadly.

Another thing she was having a hard time with. Moving to a new place, trying to start her life, but not being able to break free of the ‘little sister’ role. She assumed that most of Maggie’s friends knew their family’s history, and could practically see the pity in their eyes any time Maggie introduced them to her little sister Beth. Beth who stayed home on weekends to care for her father. Beth who worked on the farm and at her daddy’s clinic instead of waiting tables or whatever else kids her age did. Finally moving away from home was exciting, but living with Maggie didn’t turn out to be the liberating experience Beth was expecting. She was going to be 19 in a few weeks and sometimes she didn’t feel grown up at all.

He drinks his beer and Beth takes another second to examine him. His physical presence might have been slightly alarming if there hadn’t been something instinctively comforting about being near him. Beth can already tell that he's unlike anyone she's ever met.

Dying to know more about him but not wanting to pry, she keeps her voice quiet and calm. “How do you know Maggie?”

“Me ‘n Glenn work together. Just met her a few times. Name’s Daryl.”

“Well Daryl, it’s nice to meet you.” She likes the way his name sounds out loud.

More people have arrived, even though it’s getting late, and Beth feels a little claustrophobic in the crowded apartment. Someone turned up the radio a few feet away and she can practically feel it vibrating in her ears. The room feels impossibly warm and even though she enjoys being here with Daryl, she’s suddenly having trouble sitting still.

“Do you wanna come outside?” She almost can’t believe she said it out loud. This is stupid. They’ve been talking for what, five minutes, tops? He probably doesn’t want to leave, let alone with her. “I’m, um, I think I’m just gonna get some air..”

“Okay.” He looks up at her and for the first time Beth can see his eyes and they just might be the bluest eyes she’s ever seen. She’s lost in her own thoughts until Daryl stands up and she follows suit.

“I should just tell Maggie, hold on for one second and I’ll meet you by the door.” They leave their unfinished drinks on the table and Beth walks into the kitchen. She finds Maggie laughing with a few friends, who barely notice Beth when she walks over and touches Maggie’s shoulder to get her attention.

“I’m just goin’ outside for a minute, think I need some air. I have my phone and I’ll take a key. Won’t be long.” She braces herself for the reaction, but Maggie just smiles and says okay and kisses Beth’s cheek. Beth silently thanks whatever is in Maggie’s cup and turns to see Daryl waiting by the door. He catches her eye and nods from across the room and Beth starts walking over towards him.

About halfway through the living room, Beth sees someone approaching her out of the corner of her eye, and in an instant she’s face to face with Matt, looking more than a few drinks in and ready for round two. Over Matt’s shoulder (because he really _is_ shorter than her), Beth can see Daryl, standing a little taller and looking poised to step forward. She holds up a finger and mouths that she’ll just be a second before she shifts her attention back to Matt.

“You’re not leavin’ already are you? I was gonna bring you another drink, thought maybe we could talk some more. You know, Maggie thinks you have a thing for me..” He was smiling the way drunk and over-confident boys do and Beth was out of patience.

“That’s real sweet of you, Matt, thanks but um.. I actually totally forgot that I have this huge quiz on Monday, and I left my textbook at a friend’s place, so I’m just going to go get it and then probably study for the rest of the night, so..” Beth waited for him to say something, but he just kept smiling like he was part of a different conversation. “Enjoy the rest of your night though.. thanks for coming!” She patted him on the shoulder and lightly pushed past him.

Beth grabbed her purse off the floor and walked over to Daryl, who was still watching Matt walk away.

“Y’alright?” Daryl looked back at her with concern in his eyes that made Beth’s heart flutter. She nodded yes and opened the door. Beth knew she was being over-reactive, but she swore she felt the slightest touch on the small of her back as Daryl followed her out and shut the door behind them.

In the silence of the hallway, Beth felt the weight of the situation she was in. She knew his name and that he worked with Glenn, but he was obviously a man of few words and she didn’t have a game plan.

They stepped outside and Beth looked around. There was a pizza place and a coffee shop down the street, but that didn’t feel quite right. In the other direction there was a park, maybe they could just walk around and talk a little?

Taking a deep breath and letting the fresh air calm her nerves, Beth made the first move and started walking towards the park. Daryl followed quietly beside her, seemingly unbothered by the silence between them. He had put on a leather jacket and Beth could hear the muffled squeak of the fabric as he walked. When he spoke first, Beth was relieved.

“What was the party for?”

“Oh it was nothin’ special. Midterms are done for a bit now so Maggie wanted to celebrate I guess.”

When they came to the park, Beth led them to a bench overlooking a small creek. Beth had come here before, sometimes during the day to read or just have some time alone. She had come here a few times at night, too, when she discovered that on a clear night like tonight, you could really see the stars. 

Daryl leaned over to reach into his pocket, and when he pulled out a pack of smokes and a lighter he looked over at Beth.

“You mind?”

She shook her head no and watched as he cupped his hands around a cigarette and lit it quickly, putting the lighter back in his pocket, blowing the smoke away from her.

“So how come you lied to football head back there?”

She didn’t think he had heard her talking to Matt, and she would have felt embarrassed had it not been for the playful look on Daryl’s face. She blushed nonetheless.

“Oh god. I just.. I just wanted him to leave me alone to be honest. He was nice enough I guess but, if I’m not interested I just don’t like wasting my time, y’know? And I definitely wasn’t interested.”

“I get that. Not much for parties myself.”  
  
“I’m not either. It was Maggie’s idea, so everybody there was mostly her friend. I probably could have snuck off into my room without anybody missin’ me.” She didn’t mean to sound whiny and she didn’t want Daryl to feel sorry for her. If he did though, he hid it well.

“Well if you wasn’t there, I never would’a learned the difference ‘tween the good and bad kinds’a jelly beans.” He was trying to make her feel better, and it was working. She laughed out loud and Daryl chuckled a bit as he bent over to put his cigarette out on the ground beside the bench.

“Well that _is_ a very important lesson, you know. They don’t just teach you that in school, you gotta learn that yourself.”

“You like bein’ in school?”

She sighed. “I do, but.. well, it’s not really what I had imagined.”

“How come?”

“Well, actually in some ways I guess it’s exactly what I had imagined but.. I don’t feel the way I thought I would about it, does that make sense?”

“You don’t like what you’re takin’?”

“It’s not that I don’t _like_ it. I just think that maybe, I’m doin’ what I thought I should do, because my daddy was a vet and whenever I worked with him I liked it, so that choice made sense. But maybe that’s just what I thought and not what I wanted. I think a lot of things people think they want turn out to be something different when they finally get it.”

Daryl was quiet for a moment. “S’good, though. That you know, now. People wind up gettin' stuck, they don’t do nothin’ about it and end up hatin’ what they do.”

“Maybe, yeah. I’m just tryin’ to keep doing other things that make me happy too, like I love singin’ and playin’ guitar, so I do that a lot when I get stressed out about school but… I don’t think you can plan your life out too much, you just gotta believe that what you want and what you get are somehow the same, like whatever happens it’s what’s right and meant for you or somethin’.”

Daryl is staring at her. “You got some imagination there, girl. You always been so damn positive ‘bout stuff?”

She can’t help but laugh because she knows the answer is yes. “I think I have. When I was little I loved stories, fairy tales and big adventures.. anything like that.  Me and my mama would read together every night, and in school I think story time was just about my favourite thing in the world. Didn’t you read stories when you were a kid?”

Daryl got quiet then and Beth thought maybe she was broaching a subject better left untouched.

“Sorry, I didn’t… we don’t have to…”

“S’ok. Just don’t have a lotta memories, not like yours. Lost mom early and dad wasn’t ‘round much, n’ when he was I wished he wasn’t. Just me and my brother mostly, him gettin’ into trouble and me savin’ his ass, ‘ventually got himself locked up so now s’just me.”

He spoke so matter-of-factly that it broke Beth’s heart.

“Did you ever think about what your life might be like? When you were little, didn’t you ever wonder where you might end up?”

Daryl shook his head. “Just knew what it _was_ like and knew it’d either get worse or somethin’ would have to change. When my brother was gone and it was just me, I didn’t have to answer to nobody for once, and I guess bein’ alone suited me just fine.”

“Sometimes after I heard a new story, I could hardly sleep because I’d just be thinkin’ about all the things that I would end up doing if my life were like a book but..” Beth couldn’t help it as tears welled in her eyes.

Daryl reached out a hand but stopped himself before touching her. “Hey, you don’t gotta..”

“No, no it’s okay I just.. things started happening but, they were horrible and life got so hard, and I just hated it. I hated that things were happenin’ to me that I couldn’t control. I like to think those things make you stronger, cause I realized that my life wasn’t like a book because nobody was writin’ it out for me. So then I guess I just knew that I had to make things happen for myself, not just imagine them or wait around. I guess I’m still tryin’ to figure out how to get from one to the other…”

“Makes sense. S’what everybody wants to do.. figure out what they want and try to get it. We’re all just runnin’ around trying to figure out where to go and how to get there, hopin’ we’ll be happy when we get there I guess.”

Beth had never talked to anyone this way before. She had told Daryl more about herself tonight than she’d ever told anyone else in her life. There was something reassuring about him, like he was genuine and honest and she could be herself around him.

Beth wiped the tears from her cheeks and let out a small, shaky breath. She looked at Daryl who was staring up at the stars.

“Are you happy?”

Daryl looked at her and then turned his gaze back to the sky as he considered her question.

“Think so. Got a decent job, keeps the rent paid and food on the table. Don’t hate the guys I work with. Got a shitty apartment, but more’n enough space for me. Don’t really need a lot. Don’t reckon I gave much thought to my life when I’s a kid but, what I ended up with ain’t bad. I seen bad and this ain’t it.”  

“I think that’s what I meant before, about how whatever you end up with is right. You ever heard that quote, about how everything is okay in the end so if somethin’ isn’t okay then it’s not the end? I think of that when things don’t seem okay.”

“Sounds like you got a lotta faith in the world.”

“Well it doesn’t kill you to have a little faith, y’know.” She nudged Daryl’s arm playfully and managed to get a small laugh out of him.

Beth panicked slightly when Daryl stood up, but smiled when he extended his hand to her. “C’mon, oughta get you back ‘fore Maggie sends out a search party.”

Beth stood up and took his hand. As they began to walk, he didn’t pull his hand away so neither did she. She liked the way it felt to have their fingers laced together. His hands were strong and warm, and she wondered what they might feel like running through her hair or leaving a trail of goose bumps down her back.

They walked in comfortable silence back to the apartment, only letting go of each other’s hand so that Beth could unlock the main door. Daryl walked her inside and suddenly there were butterflies in Beth’s stomach. Daryl had his hands in his pockets, his eyes barely meeting hers from behind his hair, waiting for her next move.

“I’m glad I met you tonight, Daryl… you made me feel like less of a freak for not havin’ fun at the party.”

“You ain’t a freak Beth. You’re smart, y’know who you are.” The sincerity in his voice meant the world to her.

She smiled up at him. “I think that’s somethin’ else I’m still tryin’ to figure out to be honest.”

Daryl looked down at his feet for a second, like he was waiting for the right thing to say next. “What you was talkin’ about before, about makin’ stuff happen… think you gotta give yourself more credit. Lotsa people take a long time to figure out the difference ‘tween the real stuff and everything else.”

She couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face.

“Like which jelly beans are the good kind?” She laughed and swore Daryl actually smiled.

“’xactly.”

Beth sighed happily, feeling perhaps more content and at ease than she had in years. Standing on her tip toes and putting a hand on Daryl’s chest, she placed a light kiss on his cheek, his skin warm on her lips.

Daryl ducked his head and cleared his throat before looking up and meeting her eyes one last time. “G’night, Beth.”

Daryl turned and walked away and Beth felt an ache in her chest with every step he took. She already wanted to see him again and he hadn’t even left the building.

“Hey Daryl!” She couldn’t help herself.

He stopped and turned to face her, hands no longer in his pockets. 

“I, uh…I hope I see you again, sometime.” Beth didn’t know how to say what she was feeling. “And, um, thanks, for…tonight. It meant a lot.”

Daryl just looked at her. Right at her. Beth’s heart was racing.

“I’ll see you ‘round Beth.”

When he was out of sight, Beth let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Beth couldn’t hear anything from inside the apartment and was glad to find that the party was over and everyone had gone home.

Beth dropped her things on the floor, toed off her shoes and got herself a glass of water before going into her bedroom and closing the door. Lying down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, she kept going over and over what had happened.

Beth had been dreading the party, but just as quickly as she wrote the evening off, Daryl had turned it upside down. Beth had always heard people say that they ‘clicked’ with someone, but never understood what that meant until now. Beth was able to open up to Daryl immediately, telling him things that she had never said out loud, let alone to another person. He understood the way she felt, and didn’t judge her for the things she had shared with him.

Beth’s mind was racing and she didn’t want it to stop. She could hear Glenn and Maggie’s whispers from the next room and she smiled to herself. Beth didn’t know how to describe the way she was feeling, or what her night with Daryl had meant to her, but she knew that she was finally experiencing something real, and that was what mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for any typos/grammar derps, I wanted to post it in a hurry before I lost my nerve and changed my mind.


End file.
